Washington Redskins' Offer For Chad Johnson Just Plain Stupid

I would have posted this sooner, but I was out looking for thank-you cards for Mike Brown and Marvin Lewis. However, the local Hallmark store had nothing in their “thanks for saving an organization from self-destructing” line.

Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato have been drawing praise since the departure of Joe Gibbs because, for the most part, they have done nothing.

After seeing what they offered the Cincinnati Bengals in an effort to obtain Chad Johnson there is fervent hope on the part of many that they will crawl back into their hole.

If you read this space with any regularity, you know that I tend to give the Redskins’ organization the benefit of the doubt. However, none of that is forthcoming here.

Snyder and Cerrato’s decision (and I have to join them at the hip in looking at this as it has the fingerprints of both of them all over it) to offer the Bengals their first-round pick this year and a conditional pick that would be at least a third and perhaps a first in exchange for disgruntled wide receiver Chad Johnson was stupid.

Incredibly stupid.

Crazy stupid.

Stupid and stupider.

I don’t have a problem with Johnson, the persona. While I’m decidedly the old-school type, the celebrations, the list of cornerback “victims” and the brash talk that make up the Ocho Cinco character are no big deal. I’ve been a reporter in a locker room looking for a good quote and it would have been refreshing and fun to have such entertainment at hand.

And Johnson does produce on the field. He cranks out 90-catch, 1,400 yard seasons with regularity. Certainly, the Redskins’ offense would have been better had the Bengals taken the bait.

It would have been better in 2008, anyway. And probably in 2009. Beyond that the returns from the deal would start to diminish. And that is the rub.

Johnson celebrated his 30th birthday last January. The production of most football players who are not quarterbacks generally starts to drop off at that age. CJ does keep himself in excellent shape so he may be able to cheat Father Time out of a season or two. But anything beyond that would be a lot to ask for.

It would be a questionable deal if the team was one playmaking wide receiver away from a Super Bowl run. But they’re not.

They are a couple of good drafts away from being a perennial contender. The odds of executing a good draft are much better when you, you know, have all of your picks.

Now, there is no guarantee that the Redskins’ will be able to land a wide receiver of the quality of Johnson with the No. 21 pick. In fact, it’s unlikely that they will. But they are likely to be able to get one who will be productive for the next half dozen years at a fraction of the salary cap cost of CJ.

Even if Snyder and Cerrato decided that they had to have Johnson, why not wait it out to see if the price drops? It certainly isn’t going to get any higher. A Chad Johnson sitting out and making noise in late August might be able to be acquired for a relative song.

Evidently, Snyder took Lewis’ pronouncement last February that Johnson would not be traded as the Bengals’ coach saying that it would take a hell of an offer to get him out of Cincy. As it turns out, what Lewis said was not a negotiating ploy; it was a statement of fact.

It’s also a statement of fact to say that the Redskins’ personnel decision-making is in highly questionable hands.